NIU shootings ....any thoughts?

[BandAid]

I just found out this morning that a guy I work closely with,his son and daughter were in that lecture hall,his son was the second one shot ,he was running for the door and took it in the back of the head,he is ok(bruised from being trampled)and going to get the pellets taken out of his head today,he said the worst part was receiving a call about his son being shot ,then having to drive 2 hrs not knowing he was alright...he said there were 54 shots fired....:frown:

 

[bazkook]

I just found out this morning that a guy I work closely with,his son and daughter were in that lecture hall,his son was the second one shot ,he was running for the door and took it in the back of the head,he is ok(bruised from being trampled)and going to get the pellets taken out of his head today,he said the worst part was receiving a call about his son being shot ,then having to drive 2 hrs not knowing he was alright...he said there were 54 shots fired....:frown:

Glad he's okay and wish him a speedy and full recovery.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

These situations seem to be getting more frequent, or is it just the media finally addressing them, not sure but it is a scary time to be a College kid at a big campus. What I hope doesn't happen are depressed and lost kids using campuses as ways to get attention and/or take out their lives issues on.

There will always be a ton of second guessing here but I would be ok with Teachers being armed and trained if they were willing to do it. Not a big fan of having students with guns.

Hey Bandaid, hopefully your friends kid is going to recover both physically and mentally from this.

 

[Pronto]

Baz,
My son's roommates and friends are just regular guys, they are not Animal House types. Probably not any different than you, so his view of not allowing guns on campus is based on regular guys drinking and their anitcs. He is positive that when the beer muscles get flexed some bonehead would pull a gun and shoot someone.

The attacks on campuses are a different type of shooting. The shooters have been pretty much planning an attack for awhile. All have been mentally disturbed, not just drunk and pissed that his girl gave a bj to his friend. The shooters are well armed and shoot anyone not one specific person. Other than not allowing potential gun buyers that have or had mental issues, there is not much anyone can do to stop this type of shooter. They plan secretely or talk on sites but nobody believes them. Unless someone that knows them well enough gets involved and calls the police they easily can do their deed. His stealth and surprise attack pretty much impossible to prevent, especially on an open campus.

I have no issue with someone having a gun to defend themself. I am also realistic to know that most times the chance of that gun being used to defend yourself in large crowd is vastly deminished by virtue of the chaos. Sure, one on one with say a car jacker or an intruder in your house you certainly could be successful at defending yourself. As I have sited even trained police are not perfect shots in a chaotic situation. Unless you have trained for months and are a top marksman your kidding yourself. Maybe a top notch SWAT member could pull it off but I bet they would not be able to shoot because of no clear shot.

An armed mentally ill person could care less if other people might have a gun. They are irrational. That is no deterant as they want to die and usually kill themselves anyway. They just want to hurt people that they believe wronged them and go out in a media bliz, same tactic as a sucide bomber. It's a terrorist attack, nothing more.

I would be devasted if my son was killed in a shooting. I also would be devasted if he died in a car crash or got a disease and died. In any of the senerios I would not have been able to stop it. It would bring no comfort to think if he had a gun he might have been able to stop the shooter. It would bring no comfort if to think if he drove to somewhere else he wouldn't have crashed. It wouldn't bring comfort if there was some test that could have detected the disease. The only thing that would bring comfort is to know my love for him is real and his love of his mother and me is real. The rest would be in God's hands for us to recover. Could haves and would haves don't allow that.

 

[bazkook]

Pronto,I didn't mean to call your son's character into question. I'm sure he and his buddies are great guys. But a drunk guy pulling a gun on someone at a bar or party off campus is a lot different that a school shooting. First,it doesn't have to be a college kid that even has the gun in the first place. It could be a much older person who has had way too much to drink. Secondly,if a gun is pulled then it most likely won't be a shooting spree. The shooter will be mad at one person not the whole place. Finally,if a shooting happens off campus at a bar or at someone's house, by a drunk student,that shooting has NOTHING to do with the college and the rest of the student population should not be judged so. A few bad apples do not represent the majority. But all too often incidents like these shed an unnecessary and unjustified bad light on gun owners and liberal media jumps all over it. They want you to believe that guns are instinctively bad and should not be carried on campus or anywhere for that matter,for the purpose of self-defense,despite the fact the Constitution gives us the right to bare arms.

I agree that school shootings are nearly impossible to prevent and that mentally ill people will not care if others are armed. Yes I agree that it is nearly impossible to get a clear shot in a crowd. But if several students were armed they might have the chance to stop the shooter before the chaos kicked in,such as in when he first kicked in the door to the hall. But without video or actually being there it's hard to say what exactly happened and whether or not a student had the time and opportunity to put down the shooter. I am proficient with my carry weapon and so should everyone who carries one be. I will pull out my gun only when my life or the lives of others are at risk. I won't risk my life over some convenient store robbery unless the robber starts getting violent and hints that someone may be killed. The point is when you have a gun it is a responsibility,not a privilege,and must be treated as such. You have to decide beforehand when you draw that gun you are going to use it. Otherwise don't even think about bringing out,thinking you might "scare" the criminal,because that will only put the shooter on the defensive and make him shoot you and possibly others.
It apparent at this point we are beating a dead horse here. You have your views and I have mine and I suggest we leave it at that. :smile: